delmaxcomm The series was actually filmed in many locations including Chestertown, Maryland which was transformed into the town of Clay. While filming in Chestertown was proceeding, a second unit filming in Huntsville, Alabama fell behind schedule. One scene the second unit was supposed to film was the swearing in of the WWII German rocket scientists. It was decided to use the old Chestertown Courthouse for the scene.Like most folks around Chestertown I had grown accustomed to watching Harry Hamlin and Blair Brown play their roles of young sweethearts. I was in my 20's and training for a triathlon that summer and often road my bike through Chestertown. One day I was detoured down a narrow back alley because filming was occurring on Main Street. I was tearing down the sidewalk because the narrow street was filled with actor's trailers. Suddenly a lanky figure in a baggy Edwardian suite came bounding out of trailer and I had to slam on the breaks and nearly lay my bike down to avoid hitting him. It was Bruce Dern! I followed him and watched as he and Michael York took the oath of citizenship from the Mayor of Chestertown, Elmer Horsey!

wombat_1 My thoughts are essentially in agreement with the previous commentators. If you've read the book you'll know what to expect: an "epic" in the true sense of the word. The Mercury, Gemini and early Apollo astronauts are depicted pretty well as history shows them; in fact it seems difficult to separate the fictional from the might-be-real-but-not-well-known.The version I saw in Australia has a final section covering the destruction of the "Challenger". This is done is a somewhat different style to the rest of the movie (a bit too "soft focus" and "tearjerker" for my liking), and is not in the book, either.In style and approach, I would rate this as a little closer to "Right Stuff" than to "Apollo 13".

LouMaag This adaptation of James Michener's novel was especially well done and was made in the heyday of mini-series production. I was lucky enough to have recorded the original showing of the program and watched it just recently.This program depicts the race for space from the closing days of World War II through a fictional end of the Apollo program. It follows the lives of five fictional main characters, which interweave from 1944 through the late 1970's. During these years we see a fictional, but accurate, portrayal of how the space program in the US developed from early failures to successful moon landings.The cast of characters is lengthy and all of the main characters turned in very good performances. The technical and special effects were very good for the period. If you get a chance to watch a copy of this, please be prepared for a long viewing time, as even with the commercials edited out, it will last over 10 hours.

kabel74 From Penemundee to the tragic 'Apollo 18', it was quite an inspiration to saw this miniseries as a kid 15 years ago. The 80s saw the production of some of the best TV miniseries around and this is certainly one of them. As usual, the novel was even better though I only got to read it years later. It potrayed the human spirit version of the space program in their golden era. Great work by Harry Hamlin and Michael York as John Pope and Dieter Kolf respectively. If you're looking for some heart warming, feel good time, this's one worth the watch.